Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 1.
Reverend J. William Jones, Ed.

[420] there must have been one thousand two hundred and nine in the Twenty-first North Carolina, which would be preposterous. It is evidently a mistake. The latter statement would give two thousand five hundred and fifty-nine in his brigade, and yet when the Six-teenth Mississippi (only thirty-five?) was subsequently taken from him, one of my regiments was taken to supply its place, and make his brigade something like equal to the others, though the largest number I had been able to get together in my brigade was about one thousand eight hundred. The Second Virginia cavalry came with Jackson, and the fact is that the whole command that came from the Valley, including the artillery, the regiment of cavalry, and the Maryland regiment and a battery, then known as the “Maryland line,” could not have exceeded eight thousand men. With Whiting's two brigades, and Lawton's brigade, which came with Jackson, the entire force of the latter may have been in the neighborhood of 16,000; but Whiting's command constituted a part of the army when you left it, and Lawton's brigade has already been counted with the troops brought from the South. So that the whole force received by General Lee from all sources was about 23,000--about 30,000 less than your estimate.

Now, let us see if we cannot arrive at a true estimate of General Lee's strength in another way. Four of Longstreet's brigade commanders give their strength in their reports, and Alexander gives the strength of the whole, including Walton's battalion of Washington Artillery, at 9,051--Alexander's statement corresponds precisely with those of the brigade commanders who give their strength, and he supplies the deficiency as to the other two and the Washington Artillery. General D. H. Hill says in his report, page 187: “The following list of killed and wounded will show that we lost 4,000 out of 10,000 taken into the field.” This includes Ripley's brigade.

General Magruder says, on page 190: “I was in command of three divisions — those of Major-General McLaws, Brigadier-General D. R. Jones, and my own, each consisting of two brigades, the numerical strength being about 13,000 men.” General Holmes, on page 151, gives his strength of all arms at 6,573. This, of course, is exclusive of Ransom, who was with Huger. Of Huger's division, Ransom gives his strength at 3,000, which, with the 130 previously lost, makes 3,130. Mahone puts his strength (page 371) at 1,800. Armistead only states his strength partially, but shows that after getting the Fifty-seventh Virginia from Walker's brigade, his own brigade was very small. Wright puts his strength at 2,000 (page 385). Give Armistead 2,000, which is a very liberal estimate, and Huger's strength will be 8,930. Of A. P. Hill's division, Pender says (page 255): “The brigade left camp on the evening of the 25th with between twenty-three and twenty-four hundred, including Andrews' battery.” Archer says, page 256: “I have the honor to report that on the evening of the 26th of June, by direction of Major-General Hill, I marched my brigade, 1,228 strong, into Mechanicsville.”